Education/training
Autobody industry polishes its imageAccording to age-old wisdom, it's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it. MARK TOLJAGIC -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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 [ 2006-03-15 ] |
High school students toured Centennial College's renovated autobody labs last month, an event sponsored by an industry looking for new talent.
Like it or not, restoring a vehicle after a collision requires grinding and welding metal, sanding body filler and spraying paint.
Yet for those who haven't been paying close attention, the industry is undergoing a renaissance, in part to help cast the field as a rewarding and viable career destination for people with a passion for automobiles and technology.
"DELICATE SURGERY"
"It's delicate surgery now," says Zach Brull, market development manager with CARSTAR Automotive Canada, a major franchise operator of autobody shops.
"Newer technology has allowed the job to become cleaner and safer," Brull says. "We've adopted a more business-like model with contracts, good lighting and clean workplaces."
If the renovated autobody labs at Toronto's Centennial College are any indication, the industry has made a wholesale leap into the 21st century.
The labs recently benefited from a $1-million upgrade thanks to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and the generosity of such industry leaders of PPG Canada, Car-O-Liner, Lincoln Electric, Snap-On and 3M Canada.
Centennial's autobody students can now make use of their own welding lab, a Saima downdraft spray booth, a PPG Canada paint mix system, a Car-O-Liner frame machine, spot welder and computerized measuring system.
The first-class installation attempts to replicate the contemporary collision-repair centres the industry is investing in today, according to Lee Smith, director of Refinish Canada.
Centennial's School of Transportation and the collision repair industry (www.ciia.com) hosted tours of the new facility for 340 high school students, as well as industry representatives, at a special event last month.
Students of Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School in Aurora took home a Lexus ES300 donated by Toyota Canada -- the winning prize for the school that brought the most participants. The school will use the sedan as an instruction tool in its own shop, along with software from Mitchell International.
Industry support for schools has grown in recent years as employers come to terms with a looming skilled-trades shortage.
"The autobody workforce is getting older; they're retiring in greater numbers," Brull says. "A lot of people don't see it as a viable career option, but it is. A skilled car painter can make $100,000 a year with bonuses."
Brull says the popularity of such television series as American Chopper has piqued the interest of young people for the autobody field, but he notes the allure of computer jobs still prevails.
"Guidance counsellors don't say it's top of mind for them, but it is a skilled trade. I prefer to think of autobody people as modern artisans," Brull says.
Centennial offers two traditional apprenticeship programs, one in autobody repair and the other in automotive painting. Apprenticeship is the time-honoured system of learning by doing.
Autobody repairers are expected to accrue four work periods of 1,800 hours with an employer, as well as attend three college training sessions of eight weeks each.
Painters spend one training period at college, while gathering their practical experience during two work periods of 1,800 hours with an employer.
EMPLOYER FIRST
All apprenticeships begin by finding an employer first, then applying to college. For more information about how apprenticeships work, contact the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities at 416-326-5800.
For more information about Centennial's School of Transportation -- Canada's largest transportation technology training centre -- visit www.centennialcollege.ca/transportation.
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